[Editorial] Country That Neglects Patients for There Is No Medication

The basis of health policy is to protect the people`s health. It is people`s rights to go to hospital and to take medication when they are sick. However, the heath authorities did not take any measure for more than a month since the production of the medication for the tuberculosis patients who are seriously ill was stopped due to the bankruptcy of the pharmaceutical company. Their `irresponsible administration` is surprising. It was early this month when vaccines ran out from all the health centers in the nation for three days because the government sent all the tuberculosis vaccines to North Korea. This is why people criticize that the government is neglecting people`s health while supplying everything to North Korea.

`Pas` of which production was stopped is a medication that is injected to the tuberculosis patients who are seriously ill. When the second medication does not work for the patient whose first treatment was failed, hospital recommends `pas` as the last resort. The tuberculosis patients who are seriously ill may risk the life when the supply of `pas` is stopped. Moreover, tuberculosis germs, which have developed tolerance, spread, threatening other people`s health.

Moreover, most of 10,000 tuberculosis patients who are seriously ill among 100,000 tuberculosis patients are extremely poor. When the supply of `pas` is stopped, there is nothing can be done for these people since they cannot afford other treatment.

The root cause of this incident lies in the health autorities` indolent measure. Suhdaemoon Hospital in Seoul, which specializes in tuberculosis treatment, sent out an official note, which stated `appropriate treatment is difficult due to the suspension of the pas supply`, to the National Institute of Health on October 17th. Seoul National University Hospital also sent out an official note, which stated `please supply pas without hindrance` to the Korea Food and Drug Administration early this month. The health authorities said that `although we contacted pharmaceutical companies, no company intends to produce pas due to the lack of profitability`. However, this is only an irresponsible excuse. It is the right attitude of the health authorities, which take responsibility for people`s health, to continue the production if it is a necessary medication, even if they may need to raise the price of medication.

As the issue has grown serious, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said that it would "find a company that will produce pas." However, it is said that it will take more than a month to produce medication by importing raw material, even if the price is negotiated. Thus, only tuberculosis patients will suffer more due to the idle administration of the health authorities. The production of `pas` should be resumed as early as possible. Until then, the government should supply the medication even by importing the medication right away. This incident is not only the issue of the tuberculosis patents who are seriously ill but also the issue of the whole public health.